Portal:Nudity
Introduction
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair and living in hospitable climates. As humans became behaviorally modern, body adornments such as jewelry, tattoos, body paint and scarification became part of non-verbal communications, indicating a person's social and individual characteristics. Indigenous peoples in warm climates used clothing for decorative, symbolic or ceremonial purposes but were often nude, having neither the need to protect the body from the elements nor any conception of nakedness being shameful. In many societies, both ancient and contemporary, children might be naked until the beginning of puberty. Women may not cover their breasts, being associated with nursing babies more than with sexuality.
In the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire, proper attire was required to maintain social standing. The lower classes might possess a single piece of cloth that was wrapped or tied to cover the lower body; the lowest classes including slaves might be naked. However, through much of Western history until the late modern period, people of any status were also unclothed by necessity or convenience when engaged in labor and athletics; or when bathing or swimming. Such functional nudity occurred in groups that were usually but not always segregated by sex. Although improper dress might be socially embarrassing, the association of nudity with sin regarding sexuality began with Judeo-Christian societies, spreading through Europe in the post-classical period. Traditional clothing in temperate regions worldwide also reflect concerns for maintaining social status and order, as well as by necessity due to the colder climate. However, societies such as Japan and Finland maintain traditions of communal nudity based upon the use of baths and saunas that provided alternatives to sexualization.
The spread of Western concepts of modest dress is part of colonialism, and continues today with globalization. Contemporary social norms regarding nudity reflect cultural ambiguity towards the body and sexuality, and differing conceptions of what constitutes public versus private spaces. Norms relating to nudity are different for men than they are for women. Individuals may intentionally violate norms relating to nudity; those without power may use nudity as a form of protest, and those with power may impose nakedness on others as a form of punishment. (Full article...)
Selected general article
Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case of mehndi or "henna tattoos" about two weeks). Body painting that is limited to the face is known as face painting. Body painting is also referred to as (a form of) "temporary tattoo". Large scale or full-body painting is more commonly referred to as body painting, while smaller or more detailed work can sometimes be referred to as temporary tattoos. (Full article...)
Did you know...
- ... that former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said that she would swim in Loch Ness naked if the SNP won more than 50 seats at the 2019 United Kingdom general election?
- ... that film critic and censor D. I. Suchianu wanted Romanian moviegoers to cease "falling asleep whenever they're not shown a naked breast [or] a hip that's getting some action"?
- ... that Loud LDN co-founder Maisi came joint last in the 2022 Maldon mud race, behind a naked runner who had been forced to start after everyone else?
- ... that having painted a domestic scene depicting his nude wife, Robert Ballagh felt that he had to produce a nude painting of himself as a follow-up?
- ... that Joachim Werzlau composed the music for the DEFA films Naked Among Wolves and Jacob the Liar?
- ... that Meghan Trainor was inspired to write "Made You Look" after her therapist asked her to look at herself naked for five minutes?
- ... that César Mascetti was reportedly the first Argentine journalist to interview a member of the Beatles when he met a naked George Harrison on a Rio de Janeiro beach?
- ... that the destroyed plinth of Gürdal Duyar's nude sculpture Güzel İstanbul contained reliefs of a fig, a pomegranate, a honeysuckle and a bee to represent different aspects of Istanbul?
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General images
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Przystanek Woodstock festival, 2014 (from Naturism)Nude men at the
- Families bathing nude at a hot spring in Taiwan (from
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Crayon-style print by Gilles Demarteau with a nude man after original drawing by Edmé Bouchardon was acquired by Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw as a teaching material (from Nude (art))
- Nude people at the 2007
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2017 (from Nudity)A woman breastfeeding in
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David (1504)
"What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?"
— Michelangelo (from Nude (art)) - The far west end of Zipolite Beach, Oaxaca, Mexico (from
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Lake Senftenberg in 1983 (from Naturism)Naturist family on
- Photograph by
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George Bellows. A painting inspired by an incident in August 1914 in which German soldiers used Belgian townspeople as human shields. (from Nude (art))The Barricade (1918), oil on canvas, by
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World Naked Bike Ride in London, 2016 (from Naturism)
- A publicity photo showing a mature naturist couple making tea. North America (from
- Naturist swimmers in Australia (from
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John Singer Sargent (from Nude (art))A Nude Boy on a Beach (1878) by
- People bathing naked after the
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Susanna and the Elders, 1610, Artemisia Gentileschi. This work may be compared with male depictions of the same tale. (from Nude (art))
- Signpost at Mpenjati Naturist Beach (from
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Düsseldorf-Unterbach, Germany (from Naturism)Public naturist recreation area at Lake Unterbach; Strandbad Süd,
- In many European countries women may sunbathe without covering their breasts. (from
- Naked participant at
- A group of naturists at a nude beach in
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Eugène Delacroix, a painting with similar pose (from Nude photography)Odalisque (1857) by
- Nudist hiker in British Columbia (from
- Nudist couple at Terra Cotta Inn, Palm Springs, California, US (from
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Venus of Willendorf (made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE) (from Nude (art))The
- Outdoor bathing at
- Zoë Mozert was one of the Earl Moran's first nude models in the 1930's. (from
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World Naked Bike Ride in London, 2012 (from Nudity)People taking part in the
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Daumier (from Nude (art))This year Venuses again... always Venuses!... (1864) by
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sea snail shells from Upper Palaeolithic Europe, dated between 39,000 and 25,000 BCE. The practice of body adornment is associated with the emergence of behavioral modernity. (from Nudity)A necklace reconstructed from perforated
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East Germany (1958) (from Nudity)Bathing in the center of East Berlin,
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1855 (from Nude photography)Photograph by Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, c.
- A Naga
- Couple walking naked in the streets of Barcelona, Spain (from
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Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal: a naked prisoner being forced to crawl and bark like a dog on a leash. (from Nudity)One of the photographs of the
- Naturist couple at the
- Naturists in a river, 2014 (from
- Florida naturists (from
- Finnish Sauna (1802) (from
- A woman naked on the beach at Valalta, Croatia (from
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John Vanderlyn. The painting was initially considered too sexual for display in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. "Although nudity in art was publicly protested by Americans, Vanderlyn observed that they would pay to see pictures of which they disapproved." (from Nude (art))Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos (1808–1812) by
- Randonue in
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Taitung County, Taiwan (from Naturism)Sunrise on the beach,
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